Our employment campaign

Just 16% of autistic adults are in full-time paid employment. And, in almost a decade, this appalling situation hasn’t improved. We are determined to change this.

Our film

Watch our film and see what job interviews can be like for an autistic person.

The autism employment gap report

Employment won’t be right for all autistic people. But 77% of unemployed autistic adults, or people responding on their behalf, told us they want to work.

The Government has committed to halving the ‘disability employment gap’. Our fear is that without a better understanding of autism from both employers and the Government, autistic adults will continue to be left behind, their abilities overlooked.

In our report, we set out what the Government needs to do and how employers can play their role in finally tackling the autism employment gap.

Our petition to the Government

We wanted to make sure that the Government understood how important an issue tackling the autism employment gap is. As part of our campaign we launched a petition which was signed by nearly 30,000 people. On 21 February 2017 the petition was delivered to Disabilities Minister Penny Mordaunt MP by Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Autism, Cheryl Gillan MP, and a number of autistic adults. We continue to lobby for the Government to tackle the autism employment gap.

Our response to the Government's consultation

The Government's consultation on disability, health and work closed on 17 February 2017. They want to understand how to improve the system so that more disabled people who want to work are able to. They will use this information to inform their 'green paper' – a document with ideas for how to support more disabled people into work. Thank you to everyone who responded; we will keep our supported updated as the Government publishes more information about their plans.

We continue to campaign around our Autism Employment Gap report, which found that only 16% of autistic adults are in full-time employment. This rate has remained static over the past decade, showing that much more needs to be done to support autistic adults to find and retain work.

We have been meeting with the Department for Work and Pensions to help inform their work around supported employment for different groups of disabled people, including autistic people.

Today (20 March), the Minister for Disabled People, Sarah Newton, will be attending an event run by our charity and the CIPD about autism and employment. The focus will be employers hearing what the challenges are for autistic people getting into work and what good support for autistic people looks like in the workplace. It will also give employers an opportunity to tell our charity and the Government what support and information they feel they need to better support autistic employees.

Our Autism Employment Gap report also found that 60% of employers did not know where to go for advice about employing an autistic person and 60% of employers worried that they may get support for an autistic employee wrong. This is why our Autistic Talent survey is vital in helping us to inform Government and the third sector about what support and information is most needed by employers when it comes to recruiting and employing autistic people.

Are you an employer?

More about employment

Autistic people have told us their employers don’t see their abilities. They see their autism. They see a problem. Meanwhile, employers have told us that they are worried about getting things wrong for autistic employees and that they don’t know where to go for advice. Here you can find advice and guidance specific to autistic jobseekers and employees, as well as employers and colleagues working with autistic people, on how to make the workplace work better for everyone.

I'm autistic and looking for work

If you're looking for work, find out about services and tools which can support you in getting a job.

I'm autistic and in work

I'm an employer

Are you an employer looking to find out more about autism in the workplace? Or do you work with autistic colleagues? Read advice on recruiting, training and retaining autistic staff, training and workplace assessments, getting regular, free advice about autism and how to distinguish yourself as an autism-friendly employer.

I work with autistic colleagues

Find out more about autism, the person and what to do by reading our top tips. You can read more about what autism is and how it affects people differently on our general advice pages.

If you're managing someone who is on the autism spectrum, find out about the specific problems your colleague might be facing, and how you can avoid or overcome difficulties, and build enjoyable and effective working relationships.